Gift-Wrapped
| Bodie/Doyle Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Gift-Wrapped |
| Author(s): | O Yardley |
| Date(s): | 1992 |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | slash |
| Fandom: | The Professionals |
| External Links: | on AO3 |
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Gift-Wrapped is a Bodie/Doyle story by O Yardley.
Reaction and Reviews
O Yardley was one of the founders of Pros slash. She wrote the first, or one of the first, stories back around 1978 while the show was still airing. In an example of amazing fannish longevity, she's still writing Pros stories more than a quarter of a century later. Anyone interested in this fandom must sample O Yardley's work--and since she's created a large backlist, there's much to delve into for those who discover they enjoy her style. Her circuit stories aren't all online yet, but they're coming.O Yardley is the only author I've recced whose work doesn't appeal much to me personally. I still think she's a must-read, especially as many fans love her stories. And--usefully!--the stories of hers I do actually rather enjoy are some of the Christmas ones, of which there are many. So, as we've now reached Christmas in the holiday calendar I've been reccing my way through, this is a good point to introduce readers to her work.
This particular story from 1992 is a typically light-hearted look at how misapprehension can turn out to be a positive force.[1]
"Not if you buy charity cards," Doyle argued.Bwahahaha! It's Foyle! The muesli! The yoghurt! The small, earnest, leftist theatre productions in experimental theatres above pubs!
Thanks for that. I didn't love it either but she has their voices down beautifully. Quite strange, all that 70s geezerishness being written in 1992.[2]
I've never noticed the Foyle-ishness of her Doyle. Now you mention it.... :g:Other than the way she's managed to keep on thinking up stories for a quarter of a century, the thing about O Yardley that fascinates me is that her style has hardly changed at all. New stories and old stories are virtually identical in characterisation, subject matter, and style. It's almost eerie to think of writing for that length of time and not changing in some way or other.
Glad you got some amusement from the story, anyway! [3]
How odd, no style change - or is it? Enid Blyton didn't change either, lol. Lots of writers don't, I guess.I have this nascent theory that when we write slash, we like to go back to the moment where homosocial shifts to homosexual, to the point where it all begins, because it meets a need somehow - of the endlessly deferred courtship, maybe, or of a repetition of the adolescent phase where we make "decisions" about identity, or perhaps even the moment we develop an ego identity (I'm reading psychoanalysis at the moment, sorry!). For some reason, we really *love* those first times, and we keep writing them/reading them over and over to recreate the excitement and intensity. Before it all goes stale. So I guess O Yardley is just doing that.
Foyle, heh. The Bullshitters was such a wonderful spoof. Since Foyle was so very Martin Shawish, I do have to wonder exactly *what* they were driving at with Bonehead. I heard ages ago that LC was bent but he's married. Confusing. But also hot.[4]
I have this nascent theory that when we write slash, we like to go back to the moment where homosocial shifts to homosexual, to the point where it all begins, because it meets a need somehow - of the endlessly deferred courtship, maybe, or of a repetition of the adolescent phase where we make "decisions" about identity, or perhaps even the moment we develop an ego identity [...].Interesting theory. In a sort of related issue, I've heard speculation that fandoms themselves perhaps go in cycles. That is, it's perhaps commonplace for writers in a new fandom to want to explore first times, to speculate on how the specific characters in that world will make that move from homosocial to homosexual, so there's a burst of that type of story to start out with. Then, as the fandom ages and the cache of first-time stories grows large, writers--even new ones to the fandom--branch out into exploring other themes. I don't know if that holds any water or not, but it'd be cool to see a study along these lines.
For some reason, we really *love* those first times, and we keep writing them/reading them over and over to recreate the excitement and intensity. Before it all goes stale.
My personal favourite type of "first time" is stories in which one or both of them finally acknowledge that their relationship is more than just sex. That kind of emotional first time might take places years after the beginning of the sexual relationship, but it can be an even bigger step to take, at least for some characters, than becoming actively homosexual. In many of these stories, the decision about self-identity--how the character sees himself and how he deals with how he'll be viewed by others in admitting he's gay--happens at that moment when the character is able to admit to himself his own involvement.
Though, of course, there are also lots of stories in which the sexual and the emotional commitment happen together. :g:[5]